8/17/2009 @ 9:07PM

Asia Stocks Hold Ground

Asian markets showed some resilience Tuesday morning after a bleak Monday in which U.S. stocks dropped by the biggest percentage in over a month.

The Nikkei 225 was up 0.3%, or 34.37 points, at 10,302.98 in early morning trade, a day after the Japanese benchmark plunged 3.1% in the wake of the release of disappointing gross domestic product data.
Sony
shares dropped half a percent after The Wall Street Journal reported, based on sources, that it will delay the launch of a new television model with an organic light-emitting diode display. Despite Chubu Electric Power Co.’s announcement of its nuclear plant’s monthlong closure, its shares rose, while
Mitsubishi Corp.
dropped early Tuesday as oil prices leveled off.

The yen was trading at 94.86 to the dollar after making gains against the greenback in New York trading.

In Sydney the benchmark S&P/ASX200 fell 0.3%, or 12.8 points, to 4,375.6. Shares of
Fortescue Metals Group
dropped 4% Tuesay morning following news of its deal with China on iron ore, in which it undercut the price demanded by heavyweights
BHP Billiton
and
Rio Tinto
, in return for funding to expand iron ore production. In an attempt to build up a rival to BHP and Rio, China is extending $6 billion in loans to Andrew Forrest’s company, which will supply it with discounted metals in return.

Elsewhere in the market, South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.7%.

On Monday, in the U.S. the Dow Jones industrial average lost 186 points, or 2%, to 9,135, while the S&P 500 finished down 24 points, or 2.4%, to 980. The Nasdaq came away with the day’s worst performance, a drop of 55 points, or 2.8%, to 1,931. The indexes fell more than a percent in the session’s opening hour and bumped along the bottom of the day’s trading range until the close.